Lychee and Coconut Pie
by LizBee
Summary: In which Aang seduces Mai with fruit pie.


**Notes: **Written for TerajK in the White Lotus Lunar New Year Exchange 2012 (Year of the Dragon). Major character death; failed relationships. A sequel to "White for Mourning".

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><p><strong>Lychee and Coconut Pie<strong>

by LizBee

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><p>"Aang?" Mai paused in the doorway of the great palace kitchen. "What are you doing here?"<p>

"Mai!" He flashed her a quick grin, not pausing in - whatever he was doing with the mortar and pestle. "I told the guard not to wake you."

"I wasn't asleep. And the guards have standing orders to let me know whenever you arrive." She wrapped her sleeping robe around herself - more for propriety than protection against the mild summer night - and approached the bench. "You're making pie?"

The crow's-feet around Aang's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "It's lychee season in the Western Air Temple. Appa and I were flying back with a load, and I remembered how much you love fruit pies, and what a great kitchen you have-"

He passed her a bowl of peeled lychees and Mai popped one in her mouth. The sweet perfumy flavour exploded on her tongue, and at last she smiled.

"Well," she said, "I guess I won't have you arrested for trespassing tonight."

"I appreciate that, Lady Regent."

"Anything for the Avatar."

She watched him work for a while, mixing the flesh of a coconut with palm sugar and lychee, adding the ground cardamom, creating half a dozen small pastry shells with his hands.

"You don't bend when you're cooking?"

"Baking. This is baking."

She crossed her arms.

"I don't need it," he said at last. "I mean, it comes in handy for some things-" with a twist of his fingers, he pulled the water from a hunk of coconut flesh, leaving it dry and flaking in its bowl - "but otherwise it's just showing off."

"I thought you liked showing off."

"And now I'm showing off how well I bake without using bending."

He hummed unfamiliar tunes as he worked, and sang snatches of songs about air bisons and flying and the sweet, sweet touch of the wind. Mai rested her chin in her hands, wondering if this was something he'd done as a child. Sometimes she would watch him with children - his children, her own, it didn't matter - and recall with an odd shock that he had been born over a century ago.

She asked, "Do you teach your kids to bake?"

"Of course."

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask, _Could you teach me_, but she stayed silent. The regent of the Fire Nation had no business playing in the kitchen like a servant.

And she liked watching Aang work.

Mai closed her eyes for a moment. It was madness to nurse an attraction for Aang. Her enemies would call it treason. Their friends would find it awkward. Her children would be confused by the betrayal of their father's memory. And Zuko-

Zuko had never wanted her to be alone or unhappy. In the end, she couldn't be angry with him for dying, because he was already so angry at himself for abandoning his family and kingdom. Dead before his thirty-fifth birthday, all because he threw himself into Azula's lightning for Katara.

It seemed like her world had narrowed after Zuko died, and keeping the children alive, safe and sane consumed her entire being. Every emotion had been flattened, pushed aside in favour of her goals. But lately she had felt something else, as if-

"It's like waking up," she said.

"Huh?" Aang put the last of the pies in the oven and straightened up.

"Never mind."

He led her over to the table where servants sat to prepare vegetables and polish dishes. They sat beside each other, heads close, hands not quite touching.

Eventually Mai said, "Does Katara like fruit pies?"

"She prefers jellies."

"Are you two-"

"We're good." Aang leaned back and closed his eyes. "I mean, we're friends again. For a while I didn't think that would ever happen." He straightened up and gave her a serious look. "She'll always be my very best friend, you know," he said. He began to reach for her, then stopped. "I mean, no matter what else happens."

"You have three kids together. Not to mention everything else. I wouldn't expect her to disappear from your life."

"Yeah. I just - wanted to say that."

"We're not children." Despite herself, Mai smiled a little. "I don't think I have the stamina for teenage angst any more. I have three children of my own for that."

But she did feel strangely young as she reached for Aang's hand. She traced its tattoo with her thumb.

"There are a lot of reasons why this is a bad idea."

"Politics?"

"What else?"

"So if you were just an ordinary widow, and I was an old friend, just a travelling monk, or a - a jewellery-maker-"

"A jewellery-maker? Really?"

"-Or _something_ that's not the Avatar, this would work?"

"I don't know," Mai admitted. "This might not work at all. But I'd feel better about trying." She rested her head on Aang's shoulder. "Until Zhuo comes of age, we have to be discreet. Maybe after, I don't know. I can't … promise you anything."

"I don't need promises. Only you."

Mai lifted her head, her hand moving to his neck, sliding her fingers up to his jaw, bringing him closer -

She stopped.

"I think your pies are burning," he said.

"Monkeyfeathers!"

And she had to laugh, because he sounded for a moment like the exuberant adolescent he had been when they met, instead of a man grown.

"Monk Gyatsu always said timing was everything! And I always, _always_ get distracted! Not that you're not an amazing distraction, Mai, but my pies!"

"They're fine," she said, joining him. Half a dozen little lychee and coconut pies sat on the cooling rack, filling the air with their sweet scent. "Can I have one?"

"Just a moment. This is where you need airbending."

He summoned a cool breeze that left the pies warm, but no longer radiating fresh heat. Aang grinned.

"Watch this," he said, picking up a pie. With the manner of a sorcerer, he caused the filling to puff out, and presented her with an airy confection that looked light enough to fly from its crust.

"Try it," he said.

Mai dipped her finger into the pie and licked it clean.

"Oh," she said. "Yes. I like that."

"More?"

She put the pie down.

"Avatar Aang," she said, "are you using a fruit pie to seduce me?"

"My Lady Regent," he bowed, "would you like to be seduced?"

His kiss was sweet and warm, and his arms slid around her waist, drawing her against him. It was a long time before she could bring herself to break the kiss. They stood, cheek to cheek, holding on to one another.

"Bring the pies," she said, and led him to her rooms.

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><p><em>end<em>


End file.
